1973-74 Rangers

Trip down memory lane, my favorite Ranger team from when I was a kid, this team had 11 players with over 44 points, had two feared fighters Ron Harris and Steve Vickers, had 5 excellent defensemen, rolled 4 quality lines, and had superior goaltending.

Bobby Rousseau: our PP specialist who played the point. Boy, could we use him now.
Gene Carr: everyone remembers his debut the year before and long, blond, flying hair. But ultimately a disappointment.
Larry Sacharuk: great shoot and offensive skills but terrible skater for an offensive defenseman. I seem to remember them, at some point, trying to convert him to a forward, and just when he seemed to be harnessing his skills he got hurt (eye injury?)
Jack Egers: another highly skilled offensive forward with skating issues
Jerry Butler: a hustle, effort guy

The great Emile Francis teams hit their peak in 71-72 and while it wasn't completely obvious to us at the time, the 73-74 team was on the decline and at the end of the window to win the Cup.

GAG line was still great but Hadfield was sliding
Bulldog line with Tkaczuk, Fairbairn, and Vickers was highly productive but I always recall fans getting on Vickers because he was somewhat unemotional and we wanted more from him
3rd line of Stemmer, Irvine, and MacGregor was highly skilled compared to other teams 3rd line.

Park was great. Seiling was underrated. Jim Neilson was on the decline. At the time I thought that Marotte (who was built like a bowling ball) and who we acquired I think from LA, would help stabilize our D for a few years. It didn't work out.

But overall, a really good team and we were still one of the league's best. It was special going to MSG.

Bobby Rousseau was my favorite player from that group. I loved those early 70,s teams. We had a great team but had to go against the Bruins, Blackhawks and the up and coming Flyers.
The Rangers had a contending team for about 10 years which todays newer fans have never experienced. We just could not get over the hump.

One of my all time favorite NYR teams. Ron Harris has a great hip check, he was the reason I wore #3 when I started playing hockey.

When I was a kid I had a Ranger #3 jersey for Harry. Bobby Rousseau had a great slapshot, Walter Thazcuk used to shoot righty and lefty...and sorry but Vickers was feared he KO'd Don Marcotte and Ken Hodge and Schultz refused to fight him on several occasions according to Villemure...

Larry Sacharuk: great shoot and offensive skills but terrible skater for an offensive defenseman.

Larry Sacharuk had a huge slapshot I remember on quite a few occasions him taking it from outside the blueline and the goalie ducking to protect himslf, he was one of the 1st d-men in the league to score 20 goals...

This team 2 years earlier 71/72, had their best chance to win the cup. Ratelle broke his ankle late in the year which cost him the scoring title. We lost to Boston in the finals with a gimpy Ratelle. If he's 100% we probably win. That year this core was at its peak.

Vickers was very tough but he was hard to goad into a fight. Kind of like Graves he scored most of his goals around the crease area.

Harris didn't fight a lot either. He was on the small side but very stocky. He was a big hitter too.

Butler was young and rambunctious.

I liked Rousseau a lot. A very underrated player. At that time he was nearing the end. He and Park were our main point men. He was like Fred Stanfield of the Bruins--another forward who was very reliable playing point on the pwp.

Sacharuk had a huge shot. He slapped one from center ice once and it cracked the goalie's mask. Not a good player though. Egers had two or three go arounds with us but never really could stick. Tommy Williams was another one like that.

Steve Vickers wasn't a feared fighter but Teddy Irvine may have been the most feared fighter of his time. Boy, was he tough!

Vickers was a very good fighter but after his rookie season when he destroyed a couple of Bruins nobody really wanted to fight him. Dancing Ted Irvine was a very good fighter...his kid was a WWE wrestler.

I think Vickers showed everyone what he could do when he first came into the league and then kind of rode his reputation a little. He also did have a very long fuse. It took a lot to get him mad, but when he did, look out.

Park was my favorite Ranger back then but I also liked the unheralded guys like Ron Harris. I remember Harris beating up Doernhoeffer while he was on his back.

I also liked Tkachuk. Very good defensively, good at faceoffs. Also, extremely strong on his skates.

Sacharuk had one heck of a shot from the point. I would have like to known how fast his shot was...

Of course the following year after 1974, the Rangers lost to the Islanders in the playoffs and the organization had a tough few years after that point.

I bought a really small radio w/ear phone that I used to listen to games while I was supposed to be doing home work or sleeping. For a west coast game, it was great. I'd fall asleep during the second period and wake up half way thru the third to listen to rest of the game. Got a lot of mileage out of it that year. Great memories. A great team.

I bought a really small radio w/ear phone that I used to listen to games while I was supposed to be doing home work or sleeping. For a west coast game, it was great. I'd fall asleep during the second period and wake up half way thru the third to listen to rest of the game. Got a lot of mileage out of it that year. Great memories. A great team.

Marv and Sal on WNEW 1130 that brings back a lot of memories...listening to the radio was the only way to follow home games back in the day if you lived in the outer boroughs.

Those were my teams although I think that I liked the 72-3 team better. Sometimes the years tend to run together. But the one name on that team that sticks out to me is Gene Carr, my most hated Ranger ever. Loved Ron Harris beating the **** out of Dornhoefer.

Does anyone remember Marv a bit earlier (mid 60s?), when the station he was on (don't recall which) only did the last ten minutes of the first and second period, plus all of the third?

Started following hockey and the Rangers towards the end of the 71-72 season. As it happens the first game I listened to on the radio was a game against the California Golden Seals and it was the night that Jean Ratelle who was neck and neck with Phil Esposito (Bruins) broke his ankle in a collision I believe with the Seals forward Bill Hicke. Rangers completely destroyed the Seals that night. For the first several seasons the bulk of games I followed on the radio--Marv Albert and Sal Messina a better team by quite a distance than the television duo of Jim Gordon and Bill Chadwick.

Started following hockey and the Rangers towards the end of the 71-72 season. As it happens the first game I listened to on the radio was a game against the California Golden Seals and it was the night that Jean Ratelle who was neck and neck with Phil Esposito (Bruins) broke his ankle in a collision I believe with the Seals forward Bill Hicke. Rangers completely destroyed the Seals that night. For the first several seasons the bulk of games I followed on the radio--Marv Albert and Sal Messina a better team by quite a distance than the television duo of Jim Gordon and Bill Chadwick.

BTW this is my 40th year as a Rangers fan.

Same for me ...and I also listened to the games on radio up here on PEI and the signal was quite weak and the dang French stations would always be cutting us out . Those were good times !

I always thought it was against the Leafs that JR busted his ankle ? Chances are I was mixed up with the Leetch injury ...as the JR injury was a long time ago .

It was a thrill for me when they drafted Bobby MacMillan a PEI boy as their top pick in 72-73 ? but he went to the WHA and the Rangers traded his rights away after .

Radio broadcasts always were well done by Marv and Sal...who was a good player way back when in the Minor leagues .

Jean Ratelle should have scored 60 that season as he had 46 goals as of Feb 23 after a 3 goal game against the Flyers in that 72-73 season . They played the Sabres next and won 2-0 and then March 1st beat the Seals 4-1 but lost Jean Ratelle and the chance to win the Cup . He lost the Cup...the scoring race and the chance of being our first 50 goal scorer and possibly 60 ! In that last game Hadfield got into a scrap with Bob Stewart from Charlottetown PEI . Here is the game summary :

This is also my 40th Year as a Rangers Fan. I got hooked at an early age and my Dad took me to the Home Opener against Detroit on 10/10/73 my first game. I still have the ticket stub(it was $5.00 for Section 413 and we were able to buy the ticket at the box office from what I can remember)

This is also my 40th Year as a Rangers Fan. I got hooked at an early age and my Dad to me to the Home Opener against Detroit on 10/10/73 my first game. I still have the ticket stub(it was $5.00 for Section 413 and we were able to buy the ticket at the box office from what I can remember)[/QUOTE]